Dangerous
by Sagethorn
Summary: "Relax, nothing's going to happen. This has been the most boring moon in WindClan history. No invasions, no battles, no problems at all. Night guard hasn't exactly been a very demanding job lately. Now go to sleep, it'll be fine." Meanwhile, less than half a mile from where the night guard was scanning the land idly, a dark mass was moving across the moors.
1. Chapter 1

**[Author's Note: This was written for a challenge in my clan, NightClan. The challenge prompt was: "Basically, there's a dangerous animal in the forest. It doesn't have to attack the camp, it can attack a patrol or something or anything else just be creative :) and your cat is determined to help their clan." The cat I got was Darkshadow, a black and white tom who was described only as 'manipulative'. I'm not telling the animal yet, you can figure it out. This was supposed to be a one-shot, but it got really long so it's going to be a two-shot. I'll have the second chapter up as soon as I finish it. Enjoy!]**

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A crescent moon dangled above, offering a sliver of pale yellow light down on the moors. A few starts glittered here and there, like polished river stones tossed up into the inky night sky.

"Goodnight Darkshadow." A light silver tabby she-cat meowed to the night guard as she padded into camp for the night.

"Goodnight, Moonstripe." The black and white tom replied to his friend, stretching out with a yawn.

"Do your best to stay awake." She teased, flicking his nose with her tail.

"I'll try." Darkshadow replied, his ears shivering slightly at the touch of her tail against his face. "But nothing ever happens anyway, because this has been the most boring moon in the history of WindClan." He half-shouted the last part into the nighttime nothingness.

"There's a difference between boring and safe." She reminded him, sitting down on the icy ground next to the tom. "We're lucky not to have any invaders, any foxes, any Twolegs recently. I heard from a ShadowClan aquaintence that ThunderClan recently had a coyote in their camp! It completely tore the place apart, mortally wounded one of their apprentices. She almost died!"

"At least they had some action." Darkshadow deadpanned.

"Don't say that!" Moonstripe cried, cuffing his ear with one paw. The black and white tom flinched and rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. Anyway, like I said, there's not going to be anything happening tonight, just like the night before, and the night before, and the night before, and the-" Darkshadow stated, his sentence cut off by another yawn.

"Alright, well I guess I'll-" Moonstripe began, only to be cut off by a shout from across camp.

"Moonstripe!" The cat yowled loudly. "Are you coming to bed or are you going to sit there and gossip with your boyfriend all night?"

Moonstripe rolled her eyes and stalked through the camp entrance, shouting back as she went, "Orangestreak, shut your muzzle! They can hear you at RiverClan. And _for the last fricking time_, he's not my-"

The night became absolutely silent as the tunnel swallowed up the last of her words. Darkshadow sighed and settled down in a sphyx-like position on the ground, his paws stretched out before him and his head held forward, bobbing slightly as a cool wind blew across the moorland.

He yawned hugely and lowered his head onto his paws, staring out through narrowed eyes at the sloping hills that surrounded the camp. Another breeze skittered across the plains, causing the frosty grass to dance lightly around him.

Without him trying, his eyelids began to slide shut. He made a half-hearted attempt to open them again, and they raised up again, hung for a moment, and then slumped down completely. With a soft sigh, Darkshadow trickled into sleep, his head resting gently on his white paws.

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Meanwhile, les than half a mile from where the night guard was slumped asleep, a dark mass was moving across the moors. A roiling wave of grey and black, snarling, squealing, paws scratching up the grass as they ran.

At they very head of the line, the leader, with midnight-black fur and a pink scar running across his face, scrambled to stay ahead of his army. He scrambled onto a rock and peered across the plains. His beady eyes caught sight of the camp in the distance.

He peered closer, unable to believe that these creatures, regardless of their obvious stupidity, would leave their base unguarded. He frowned, narrowing small dark eyes.

There! Barely visible in the grass, a black and white form was curled up, unmoving, eyes appearing to be closed. The leader almost laughed. Only one guard, and he was asleep! Brilliant!

Turning back to his warriors, who were yelping and squealing with indignation at the pause in their march, the leader smiled deviously.

"Press on!" He ordered, which was met with shrieks and howls and paw-pounding of delight as the army surged forward again, stumbling over one another, teeth snapping with blood-lust, their leader racing ahead of them all, eyes glittering in the slim moonlight.

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A young warrior, Nutstep, was curled up in her nest at camp, thanking StarClan that the leader had declared the night cold enough that they could sleep in the rarely-used dens instead of out under the stars, like WindClan cats usually did.

Nutstep had been bewildered at the number of groans and yowls of disappointment at that announcements. She would never exactly understand her clanmates desire to be out in the open. She and a very few other young warriors had high-pawed in delight at the decision, and had immediately raced into the den to pick out their nests.

Nutstep liked it. She enjoyed the coolness of the mossy nests that weren't soaked by rain or dried by the sun. She liked the leafy smell from branches overhead. She liked the warm darkness and soft shadows, and mostly she liked the sounds of the gentle breathing of sleeping cats, their warm breath swirled about them den and enveloping everyone like a light blanket.

It wasn't exactly as peaceful as she had hoped. The senior warriors had kicked her out of the center of the den, making her sleep near the very edge, where whispers of cold air trickled through to tickle her skin and make her shiver uncontrollably.

And then of course there was the problem of restlessness. Nutstep was probably one of about only three warriors in her clan who didn't have crippling claustrophobia. The other warriors tossed and turned, moaned and whimpered, occasionally staggered desperately out for a breath of fresh air, usually stepping on other cats in the process.

But she was enjoying it to the alternative, and was just starting to drift off to sleep (After she was fairly certain the other warriors had finally become too exhausted to flail around any longer), when she was almost positive she heard, no, not heard, _felt_, with her ear pressed against the ground, a rumbling sound.

She frowned and, against her mind telling her to ignore it, concentrated harder. There it was again: She could definitely detect it. It almost sounded like, well, thunder. (Ridiculous, this night was beautifully clear.) But what was it.

For an absurd moment, she had the notion that it might be the sounds of hundreds of tiny pawsteps pounding against the moors. She smiled to herself, picturing a stampede of rogue rabbits, or an army of kits, racing across the plains, their paws thrumming so hard it actually made the ground vibrate.

Still smiling to herself, Nutstep rolled onto her back and sighed, closing her eyes. Tonight was for sleeping, not for fantisising over impossible things. Besides they had a night guard.

_If anything is actually wrong, he'll take care of it..._ Was the last thing she thought as she drowsily sunk into sleep.

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The leader stopped his army a few tree-lengths from the actual camp. He thought it would be obvious that they needed to be quiet, considering that there was a cat sleeping _right in front of them_, but apparently not, because the squealing and yowling continued even as they stood in place.

He turned around and snarled as loud as he dared, "Quiet! Silence!"

A few of the moderatly-intelligent ones got the hint and shut their mouths, but a couple more continued to yammer, like they weren't in war and this was a totally acceptable time to chat. The leader dispatched a few high-rankers to go and deal with it. A few sharp nips later, silence had finally fallen.

The leader cleared his throat, and with a slight sweeping motion of his tail, the tightly-bunched wave fanned out, turning them from a wave to an entire ocean. The leader smiled, pride in his soldiers swelling in his chest.

With some slight difficultly, the leader rose up on his hind legs and, wobbling for a few seconds, manged to gain his balance. Turning his glittered eyes onto the furry sea before him, he grinned toothily.

"Fellows, to war!" He cried as softly as he could manage.

"Hoorah!" The army repeated in, thankfully, low voices.

Straightening up as high as he could, the leader raised both front paws and brought them down with a _whump!_ against the ground. He did it again, and then two more times.

_Whump! Whump! Whump!_

And then the ocean surged forward to drown the entire camp.

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**[Author's Note: Next chapter soon! Ciao! :3 Love, Sagethorn]**


	2. Chapter 2

**[Author's Note: Yay, next chapter! Read on!]**

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Darkshadow knew, in the shadowed haze of his sleep, that he would be wakened at some point. With any luck, it would be by the dawn light, and he could wake up fast and make it look like he hadn't been sleeping on duty.

But more likely than not, it would be by the angry dawn patrol, who always went to release the night guard from duties. And he would have to sit there and be chewed out by whoever was leading the patrol that day, until he would be sent back with disgrace to do some awful task as punishment.

But of all the ways that Darkshadow thought he would be woken up, this wasn't one of them.

He felt the hot, unnatural breath on his neck and that snapped him awake in an instant, but the teeth latched into his throat with unbelievable speed. Darkshadow reared up, trying to screech in surprise but gagging instead. He raised one clawed paw and swiped, dislodging the creature from his windpipe.

Whatever it was, it hit the ground with a soft _oof!_ of small lungs being emptied, and manged to stagger, dazed, to its feet, gurgling in pain.

For one strange, sleep-muddled second, Darkshadow thought it was a mouse. A mouse that had, for some crazed reason, gone for his throat. Then he blinked and, no, not a mouse. A _rat_.

Darkshadow didn't have time to think, but didn't need time. His instincts seized him, fire flooded his veins, and in one second his tail had shot out and swatted the rat on the shoulder. It wheeled around in surprise and made a snap for his flicking black tail, and in that instant his paws came down and crushed its neck. It squealed for a moment and then went still.

Darkshadow opened his mouth to yowl in triumph-

And then the rest of them were upon him.

They came out of every shadow, from behind every rock, from in every patch of grass. Like floodwater, they rolled across the plains, covering the distance with well-trained ease. They flew through the air like tiny rocket-propelled missiles, tiny claws extended from little pink paws, unnaturally long fangs bared, eyes like berries flashing.

Two more went for his neck, one latched onto an ear, and three more dove for his legs. Darkshadow screeched and flailed his paws, managing by luck to knock loose one of the ones on his neck. It hit the ground with a _thwack!_, blood splattering from claw marks on its flanks. Then it stood up, shook off, and dove past him.

Darkshadow managed to crane his neck around to see the rest of the huge wave pouring past him, heading for the camp. Teeth snapping, claws flashing, little rat battle cries ringing from tiny throats.

Darkshadow's sight was lost in a red mist of rage, and paws swung wildly, his teeth snapped, and he flung and rolled himself at the army in a desperate attempt to crush a few to death.

He felt his claws catch flesh, his teeth bit into bone, and he could hear the cracks of little bones breaking, and the dying cries of a few of the creatures. But he was hardly making a dent. The others just scrambled over the dead bodies and continued forward.

The red haze faded enough for him to see. He was standing in front of the entrance of the camp, trying and failing to body-block it. Rats poured past him, a couple turning their heads to nip at whatever part of his anatomy they could reach. Blood ran in scarlet lines down his legs, completely obscuring any white fur. He could feel hot wetness pouring down other parts of his body, and it didn't take him long to figure out what it was.

He finally registered pain and looked down to see a small brown rat clinging to his tail, slashing and biting until several inches of his lovely black tail was a mass of torn flesh and fur, splattered in blood. A bit of white bone showed through at one part.

With a snarl of rage, he swatted the rat, sending it flying with shriek that ended as it hit the ground with a sickening sound. He licked his tail in a feeble attempt to stop of flow of blood, only succeeding in making a flash of hot pain flare though the cut.

By now the rats were no secret. They had poured into every den, climbed up onto every rock, squeezed into every crevice. Cats came pouring out of the dens, screeching, rats clinging to them by their teeth, blood pumping from the wounds. He saw one small apprentice tear out of his nest, three rats hanging from his neck. Two more jumped on from a nearby rock, and the cat disappeared, wailing and sobbing for help, under the mass of fur and blood.

"What the hell is this?!" Screamed a voice in Darkshadow's ear. He whirled around to face the ginger tabby deputy, Frecklefoot, whose dusty orange fur was streaked in deep red blood.

"What do you think?' Darkshadow snarled.

"I think you didn't sound the alarm or anything!" The deputy spat back, causing a spurt of blood to stream from a slashing cut on his lip.

"Listen you foxface, I was a little busy trying to survive my way into camp! And if you-" A flash of movement behind him made his ears prick. "Behind you!"

"What do you mean-" Frecklefoot snarled, then his voice cut out into a gurgle of surprise. Red rivulets of blood poured down the sides of his neck and his shoulder, and the deputy plunged forward, loosing his footing and slumping to the ground, legs flailing in a half-hearted attempt to get up. A huge black rat with a scarred face had its teeth driven as far as they would go into the back of his neck.

Darkshadow yowled in surprise and swatted out a paw, knocking away the rat. It smacked the ground, rolled over with a groan, and took off like a shot, disappearing into the shrieking, bloody fray.

Something latched on with needle-sharp teeth into the back on Darkshadow's ear. He swung around, lost his balance, and hit the ground hard. The rat landed under him and let out a shriek cut off by a crack as Darkshadow's bulk crushed it.  
The black and white warrior staggered to his feet, panting. The rat was still locked in a death-grip on his ear, and he had to use his claws to pry its teeth off and fling its body away.

Darkshadow shook the rivulets of blood from his face and stared around the camp. Everywhere, screams and shrieks and wails and hisses. Cats tore past him, grappling with a rat, usually multiple rats. The ground was littered with dead, unmoving rodent bodies, spattered in blood, but the huge army had barely had a dent made in it.

Everywhere, the rats swarmed. Pelts of muddy brown and soot grey and night black. Flecks of scarlet blood stained their ruffled, dirty fur. Their eyes were like small black berries, glittering and reflecting in the moonlight. (Some didn't even have two eyes anymore, and instead had a bloody mass of torn flesh where it should have been.)

Rats, in general, were a very different type of enemy. The clans had figured out almost every kind of danger that lurked in the shadows, and knew their weakness, knew their style. But rats were a bit of a puzzle. A deadly puzzle.

They moved in packs, almost clans. Usually with a leader, or a few leaders. Compared to foxes, badgers, and stupid slobbering dogs, they were massively intelligent. They actually plotted their attacks, judging their enemy, calculating.

They were small, smaller than even a young rabbit, but they moved with cat-like agility, bouncing, twisting, squeezing through the tiniest openings. Their claws were a joke and they didn't even have fangs, only two teeth. But the teeth were abnormally long, and sharpened to deadly points. One nick from a rat could draw blood, and an actual bite in the right spot could cause a deadly puncture wound.

They were hard to fight, too. Oh, being attacked by one or two wasn't a problem, of course. After all, they were still ten times smaller than the cats. One bite to the neck or a well-aimed blow to the spine would kill them instantly. But they didn't attack you one at a time, unless they were just being overly confident or you were weak enough to be taken on.

No, they attacked in twos, threes, fours. They overwhelmed you, scratched and bit at whatever they could reach, dragged you to the ground, soaked you in your own blood, and then sank their teeth into just the right spot, and it was all over. And then they would be on to their next victim.

That was why they were so deadly, that was why they were so feared. Anytime more one rat was spotted anywhere, a huge patrol was sent to dispatch them. If something that could even possibly be a rat hole was discovered, it was dug up, destroyed, smashed to pieces, and then filled back in with dirt.

Rats were the most terrifying menace the clans could ever deal with. They were stone-cold smart, calculating, manipulative, agile, strong, and always worked in numbers. In essence, they were almost exactly like the clans. Almost smarter and more powerful than the clans, even. And that terrified them.

And so now, watching his clan be torn apart in front of him by the only creatures ever able to match them, the black and white (and red) tom didn't know what to do.

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**[Author's Note: Alright, I lied, it's a three-shot. I wanted to update this, but didn't have time to finish the entire story because I really need to update my other fics, so I just uploaded what I have, and the next (and hopefully final!) chapter will be up in two or three days. Until next time!]**


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